


Sweet Victims of Poor Circumstances

by ChibiYoda



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, NOT endgame compliant, Not Infinity War compliant, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Soulmates, This Is My Ship and It Has Wrecked Me, how about we just say Not MCU Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27028945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiYoda/pseuds/ChibiYoda
Summary: Stephen wasn't sure what he felt that day in the park. But he sensed it was something special.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	Sweet Victims of Poor Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a result of a Three Things Challenge. The things were blue paint, glasses and leaves.  
> Title taken from "Sanctify Yourself" by Simple Minds

It was a moment that would have been unremarkable to most.

Stephen had stepped through the portal and introduced himself to Tony Stark, who appeared to be thoroughly unimpressed, and rather rude.

But when Doctor Banner stepped out from behind him, Stark was visibly shaken. His disagreeable attitude softened.

Banner quite literally fell into Stark's arms, causing the billionaire to shoot a death glare at the sorcerer. At their connection, a torrent of emotion burst forth, which Stephen felt in his bones. What was this?

The entire exchange was over so quickly, but it had struck Stephen. He had an instant impression that he'd witnessed something significant. Profound.

But pressing circumstances forced the sorcerer to abandon his curiosity for the time being.

Then the snap felt throughout the universe further complicated matters.

Yet even after the monumental effort to correct the Mad Titan's actions had left them all changed forever, Stephen still couldn't shake the memory of that day in the park, when Stark and Banner had been reunited after two years apart.

Stephen had a theory. A wild one at that. And it was all coming back to him now. Glimpses of fourteen million alternate timelines that he'd visited in search of a winning strategy, but finding only a single harrowing path to victory. One in which Bruce and Tony would fulfill their destiny to recover the fallen and defeat Thanos, each paying a high price for their efforts.

Bruce was gifted with a deformed arm as his reward for employing the Nano Gauntlet to restore the existence of countless lives throughout the galaxy. While Tony had fought his way back from the brink of death, to be burdened with a heart even more fragile than before.

But it didn't stop them. They had just proved to the universe that nothing could.

They carried on, and continued to make a difference in the world. And to each other.

Stephen was fascinated by the pair. So much so that he decided to revisit some of the adjacent realities, in order to investigate further.

He wasn't spying, really. It was more akin to research into the phenomenon of soulmates. He had never met soulmates before, and he wondered if the force that he felt when Bruce and Tony touched, the energy that nearly knocked the sorcerer back into the portal, could have been the result of this legend.

So with time on his side once again, Stephen set out to indulge his curious nature by returning to some of the timelines he'd passed through before.

The snap's decimation of half of the universe's inhabitants may have been the same in millions of Bruce and Tony's lifetimes, but the pair's journeys to get to that point were varied to some degree or other. Yet be they major or minor differences to their circumstances, some important constants held true in each lifetime. Tony would always be successful in whatever he chose to do in his life, and Bruce would always struggle throughout his own, but invariably overcome his hardships. These traits were ingrained in their beings. 

And the other guarantee? Bruce and Tony would always find each other. 

Having been witness to a fair amount of tragedy in his life, with more sure to come, Stephen was careful as to the portion of a particular timeline he should examine. There were many instances where either Bruce or Tony didn't survive the initial snap, or live through the efforts to reverse it. The sorcerer only wished to study the soulmates' interactions with each other, to compare how their relationship worked with how a normal couple operated. He was quite content to only imagine the aftermath of a soulmate losing their partner.

This time, Stephen dropped in on an outcome in which Bruce and Tony had survived both the initial snap, as well as the failed attempt to reverse it.

The two were living together in a lovely cabin, situated on a rather large parcel of land upstate, which Tony had purchased for them. A second cabin had been built about a year or so after the first. For in this reality, Bruce's efforts to resolve his issues with Hulk had not resulted in him absorbing the mighty creature. Rather, Bruce and Tony had found a way to separate Hulk from Bruce. "Best of both worlds!" Tony had declared. 

While Hulk initially had the mentality of a young child, the pair constantly worked with him to teach him as much as he was able to comprehend, at whatever pace was comfortable for him. It was exciting and satisfying to help this being have his own life, learn and grow, form relationships with others. Bruce had been fearful that they wouldn't be able to contain Hulk, reason with him, find enough humanity in him to afford him a decent life. But Tony reminded him that even though this creature was born from Bruce's tragedy, there was a little of Bruce in him. And a little Bruce goes a long way.

Right now, Stephen was observing the green behemoth wading in the pond that was set back from the cabins, but was still within sight from the grounds in back of the main house. 

Bruce had set up a table in the shade and was working on a little project, while simultaneously keeping an eye on his former body-mate. Now Bruce wasn't quite as handy with tools as he was with lab equipment, so Tony had cut the wood for him, but Bruce was confident that he could then assemble the birdhouse on his own. 

That part had been completed, and now Bruce was in the process of painting it.

He had chosen cornflower blue for the body of the house, and dark grey for the roof. Having applied a second coat of each the day before, today's goal was to nurture an artistic side of himself that had been dormant. He'd never had enough peace in his life to grant him the time to dabble in anything 'just for fun' until now.

Not trusting himself to paint actual images freehand just yet, he lightly sketched tiny daisies here and there around the house. Originally planning to have the flowers connected by an infinite curving stem sprinkled with leaves, (Bruce had chosen the perfect shade of Hulk green for them) he ended up scrapping that idea because he just wasn't satisfied with his drawing skills. He'd have to work his way up to vines and leaves. 

Bruce painted all of the bright white petals first, then went back and placed a yellow dot in the center of each little bloom. Painting such small flowers required patience and a delicate hand. Those qualities were second nature to Bruce. Science often required both. 

He was feeling well-pleased by the time he got to the last one. But then he found that he'd made a rookie mistake. He'd neglected to paint the underside of the house. Now what. He didn't want to lay the house on its side for fear of smudging a flower. He needed bottom side up, but how was he going to brace it? Then he remembered some leftover paving bricks that they'd used for the front walkway. He grabbed a couple of them from the garage, turned the birdhouse upside down, and placed a brick on either side of the sloped roof in order to hold it upright.

He was brushing the blue over the bottom of the petite structure when Bruce noticed Tony approaching.

"Thought you might be thirsty," Tony called out. He was carrying a tray with two tall glasses of lemonade, along with a huge thermos of it for Hulk. When he reached Bruce's work area he asked, "Didn't you say that you were done with the base coats?"

Shamefaced, Bruce replied, "Forgot the bottom," as he took both of the glasses from the tray and set them on his table, so that Tony could deliver the mini vat of lemonade to Hulk.

Tony smiled, "You'll get 'em next time, tiger." He was about to continue with his deliveries, when he motioned to one of the lemonade glasses. "Are you marking which one is yours? Really now, Bruce. We've swapped a lot more than spit. You know I don't have cooties." 

Puzzled, Bruce followed Tony's gaze and noticed that one of the glasses had a blue fingerprint on it. He then looked down at his hands to see a dab of paint on his left thumb. 

Stephen watched the men laugh, and felt a warmth inside of him that wasn't caused by this sunny day, but by a very special love that had been a privilege for him to discover. 

He had many, many more alternate realities that he could explore, but for now he chose to examine this idyllic scene for a while longer. The harmony of Bruce and Tony's bond gifting him with a time-out from the stresses of his reality. 

Like rewatching a favorite film, Stephen was certain he would visit this scene again.


End file.
